This invention relates to a leg assembly for supporting an upright stand which carries an umbrella, a camera, a microphone, a lamp or the like.
Conventional leg assemblies for supporting umbrella are generally not adjustable and are not collapsible. Adjustable and collapsible leg assemblies currently available for supporting microphones, cameras, etc., are usually of complicated construction which requires additional brace members to form the collapsible assembly, and are also inconvenient to operate.
An object of the present invention is to provide an adjustable and collapsible leg assembly for supporting a stand or the like which is simple in construction and which can be adjusted in height and collapsed conveniently for stowage.
According to the present invention, an adjustable leg assembly comprises a vertical tubular support, a connector which includes a sleeve member securely provided around the vertical tubular support, the sleeve member having a plurality of radially extending lug members, a plurality of leg members each having a joint end overlapping and pivotally connected to each of the lug members, and means for adjustably locking the leg members against movement relative to the connector, the means including a plurality of positioning pin holes each of which is provided in either each of the lug members or each of the joint ends, a plurality of elongated and curved slide openings each of which is provided in either each of the lug members or each of the joint ends to be registered with each of the positioning pin holes, and a plurality of positioning pins each of which threads through each of the positioning pin holes and the curved slide openings, each of the positioning pins having a portion with an enlarged cross-section, each of the positioning pin holes having a portion with an enlarged cross-section for receiving the enlarged portion of each of the positioning pins, each of the slide openings permitting the positioning pin to slide transversely therein so as to vary the position of each of the legs relative to each of the lugs, and having a first portion narrower than that of the enlarged portion of the positioning pin and at least two second portions whose widths are large enough to receive the enlarged portion of the positioning pin, each of the positioning pin being operable to be moved axially between a first position in which the enlarged portion of each of the positioning pins is received in one of the second portions of each of the slide openings and a second position in which the enlarged portion of each of the positioning pins is outside of each of the second portions.
In one aspect of the invention, each joint end is forked and has two substantially parallel plates to sandwich each lug. The slide openings are provided in the parallel plates, and the positioning pin holes are provided in the lug members. A means for biasing the positioning pins to the first position is provided in the pin holes.
The present exemplary preferred embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: